The Old Paths: Our Loss, Heaven’s Gain

(This was originally published in The Stokes News on December 8, 2011, in my regular column, “The Old Paths.” Due to the fact that all Internet links were broken to our old articles when Civitas Media switched websites, I am slowly but surely posting all of my old columns in my blog so that they will be archived as they SHOULD’VE been on the newspaper website.)

Mike Joyce, the longest-running sheriff in Stokes County history!

It was a breezy Sunday morning in Iowa. The September sun shone on my ballcap-clad head as I walked into the tunnel made by the arching cornstalks at the Field of Dreams.

I plucked an ear of corn and guiltily put it inside my jacket. Even though I had found no restrictions on picking corn, I still worried that I was committing a crime. Was that the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson shaking his head at me?

But ever since former Sheriff Mike Joyce had shown me the ear of corn his stepson Joe had brought him from the Field of Dreams, I had been determined to have one. And now I couldn’t wait to tell him about mine.

I never got to tell him.

Once home, I had to work furiously so I could resign from The Stokes News in late September. One of my final stories was about Joyce preparing for a bone marrow transplant and the importance of him being shielded from infection.

So I figured I would just save the story for when he came home from Duke Medical Center at the first of the year. He and I had big things to do! We shared a dream–to create a Stokes County Sports Hall of Fame/Museum.

On the old paths, I’d go to Danbury each Thursday to pick up the public records for the paper. If it was “my lucky day,” Sheriff Joyce would beckon me into his office–a baseball lover’s dream. His cherished baseball memorabilia adorned the walls, the cabinets, the desk.

I never tired of hearing his stories–usually baseball stories, because he was one of the few people I knew whose passion for that most excellent sport surpassed even my own. He’d loan me baseball movies, tell me little-known baseball facts and often discuss Stokes County’s own rich baseball heritage.

Sheriff Joyce felt that Stokes should have a place where local sports heroes and their accomplishments could be memorialized for the public to view. His idea captured my fancy.

I imagined the fruition of that dream. I could see the ribbon-cutting, with Sheriff Joyce presiding and local sports legends present–the Nunn brothers from up Nancy Reynolds way, Kenny Dennard, Bill Murrell, Dusty Ackley, Mikey Joyce and so many others.

I had a sneaky little plan to persuade museum supporters to name the museum in honor of Mike Joyce. I kept my idea under wraps because he would have protested, being the incredibly humble and unselfish man that he was.

We never got to plan that museum together. Just two months after Sheriff Joyce announced in late 2009 that he would not seek re-election, he was diagnosed with leukemia.

I watched him fight the good fight for nearly two years. Although I wasn’t the sports editor, I begged to cover him throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in April 2010 when Field Two at Lions Park in Walnut Cove was named after him. He reminisced about coaching teams there, telling me how he still had the game ball from when his son Mikey pitched a perfect game.

It was a cruel blow to hear that the leukemia had reared its ugly head again late in the spring of 2011. But through aggressive treatment, it was soon forced back into the abyss where it belongs.

And then it was time for the final assault on the disease–a bone marrow transplant that would conceivably put the lid on the cancer and bring Joyce home again to his beloved wife Gail and family, his trusty motorcycle and plenty of good sports to watch.

But none of us are promised tomorrow, and neither was Sheriff Joyce. Before the transplant, leukemia came back with a vengeance for a third time. I kept thinking that surely such a great man who had done such enormous good for Stokes County wouldn’t die before enjoying retirement. It didn’t seem fair somehow.

But that’s not how it works. In this fallen world, the rain falls on the just and the unjust, and as Billy Joel sang, sometimes “only the good die young.”

I was on the road to Orlando, FL, when a county leader texted me on December 1, “He’s gone to Heaven.” I was asked to write the newspaper story even though I was on vacation and was no longer the editor of The Stokes News. I gladly wrote it on my laptop as my daughter drove. It was loaded to the website using McDonald’s free Wi-fi in a little Florida town.

I spent the evening searching for remembrances of Sheriff Joyce on Facebook, taking notes on the heartfelt stories I found there. And then it hit me. I was doing exactly what writer Terence Mann (played by James Earl Jones) did in the movie that Sheriff Joyce and I loved so dearly, “Field of Dreams.”

Mann collected notes from personal testimonies about the life of a small-town doctor–Archibald “Moonlight” Graham. I had once compared Sheriff Joyce to Graham in a feature story I wrote, and now I was collecting testimonies about him. Both men had dreamed of playing professional baseball.

Here are the last couple of paragraphs of my 2009 story:

Archie Graham makes it to the majors for about five minutes—not even long enough to get one at-bat. He returns to his hometown and becomes a doctor who is beloved by the entire region for over half a century.

Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) agonizes over Graham’s coming so close to a dream that was never realized. “Some men would call that a tragedy,” he insists.

The wise old doctor replies, “Son, if I’d only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes, then that would’ve been a tragedy.”

Many would argue that the analogy is a good one for Sheriff Mike Joyce’s life. Law enforcement may not have been the “field of his dreams,” but he has striven to fulfill his destiny with loyalty and integrity. A tragedy, perhaps, for Joyce that he didn’t get to play major league baseball, but a tragedy indeed, for the citizens of Stokes County, if he had.

When Mann interviewed the locals about Doc Graham, he heard how children who could not afford eyeglasses or milk or clothing would never be denied these essentials because Dr. Graham would make sure they were provided for.

Similarly, I heard stories of Sheriff Joyce’s big heart. Kathy Grubbs Marshall told how she dropped in one day to see her grandpa about six months after her grandmother died. Sheriff Joyce was there and confessed that he often went by to check on Mr. Burke. He was so at home there that he went to get the “nabs jar” and they all shared a Pepsi.

Mr. Burke was a staunch Democrat and Sheriff Joyce, a rigid Republican. But that didn’t matter when it came down to deeper issues of the heart.

Another person told how the unpretentious sheriff once dressed up as a woman to take part in a womanless beauty pageant to benefit a young boy who had leukemia. Jennifer Mickey Fulp shared the story of Sheriff Joyce going weekly to visit her ailing grandpa, former Stokes County Sheriff Clyde Duggins.

No fanfare, no self-promotion, no ulterior motive other than doing the right thing and caring about fellow human beings.

Was he perfect? Of course not–the only perfect man walked the earth 2,000 years ago.

But Mike Joyce will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the best people to ever breathe our good ole Stokes County air. He was one of the most beloved leaders in county history, with support from people in all political parties.

Sheriff Joyce, I will miss your quiet laugh that sometimes made no sound but shook your body. I will recall your compassionate eyes and hear your slow-paced, kind voice. I will remember your true humility and integrity and use it as a model to aspire to.

I will even admit that I pulled for the Texas Rangers in the World Series but am still glad your beloved St. Louis Cardinals won, for your sake.

I hope to press on with plans for a Stokes County Sports Hall of Fame/Museum, but it won’t be the same without you. I won’t rest until it bears your name, but how I wish you could be there to cut the ribbon.

But you’ll be watching from Heaven, I figure. I’ll bet that somehow you even know about my ear of corn from the Field of Dreams in Iowa. Hope to see you on the other side–on the new paths where there is no leukemia, no sickness, no pain.

And if there’s a field up there where old baseball players go to play the games of their dreams, save me a spot on the bleachers right beside you, will ya?

Me with Sheriff Mike Joyce on the opening day of Walnut Cove Little League when Field 2 at Lions Park was named after him. He threw out the first pitch of the 2009 season.

A Veterans Day Remembrance: Jay Kitts

(I wrote this back in 2012 when I was a reporter for The Stokes News. It was originally published as “Just in time for Veterans Day. . .Walnut Cove soldier returns from Afghanistan” on Nov. 15. The subject of the story, Jay Kitts, passed away on June 13, 2015, from cancer at the age of 54. The article has been edited accordingly.)

Veterans Day holds a special significance each year for Pam Kitts of Walnut Cove. Not only did she have a husband in the military but a son as well. In 2012, with her husband Jay still deployed with the U.S. Army Reserves to Afghanistan after 14 months and her son Nathan stationed with the Coast Guard in Ohio, the upcoming holiday was destined to be bittersweet.

Or so she thought.

Just a week before the Nov. 11 holiday, Pam received word that Jay would be coming home. He landed back on American soil in Texas on Nov. 5 for medical checks and briefing. It looked to be perhaps a couple of weeks before he would make the flight back to North Carolina.

But then Pam got the call that made her heart rejoice. Jay would be flying home on the eve of Veterans Day–Saturday, Nov. 10.

“The unit in Ft. Hood, TX, worked overtime to try to get the soldiers home for the Veterans Day holiday! We were not expecting them for another week,” Pam explained.

Before she knew it, she was on her way to PTI Airport in Greensboro. “I was anxious and so excited,” she recalled her emotions. “I just couldn’t wait to see and hug him!”

Waiting for Jay to arrive….

Pam and several family members and friends were on hand with banners and American flags to welcome Jay home late in the day that Saturday. Before long, he was back in the arms of his wife and home just in time for the day that honors him and all of those who serve in this nation’s military.

“I was ecstatic to see my family and friends and grateful to be back home!” Jay said.

Jay is home at last!

The Kitts family reunited!

It was a long time coming. Master Sergeant Charles Jay Kitts had been deployed three times overseas, serving active duty in Desert Storm and stationed in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. He was also deployed another time stateside as an RDO (Rear Detachment Officer).

But that most recent deployment with the 378th CSSB (Combat Sustainment Support Battalion) out of Fort Indiantown Gap, PA, may have been the toughest. During the two months of training in NJ and then TX, followed by 12 months in Afghanistan, Jay’s father-in-law passed away, Pam had two surgeries and his 14-year-old daughter Katelyn underwent three surgeries.

“It was hard leaving behind your family and worrying about what’s happening with them and not being there for all the hardships and milestones,” Jay admitted. “I kept my faith in God and trusted that He would keep my family and me safe and bring us back together soon.”

A specialist in logistics, Jay worked 12-16 hour days in Afghanistan, always with the knowledge that enemy forces were out there to bring harm to the military. He faced protestors and occasional Afghans who would try to get into the camp.

“It was tough,” he confessed. “Days were long.”

But during that time, there were things Jay accomplished that he was proud of. He actually helped build a forward operations base in northern Afghanistan and served as acting mayor of the base.

In 2012, Jay had been with the Army Reserves for 30 years with six years of active duty. This Wytheville, VA native remembered first wanting to enlist because his dad served in World War II and because he, too, wanted to serve his country.

And Jay did not serve alone. Pam was right by his side. They met on the job in the summer of 1986 when he moved to Walnut Cove, quickly fell in love and married in Feb. 1988. Pam said that since she and Jay had been able to put down roots in Walnut Cove–not having to move around–deployment was perhaps harder on them.

“The toughest thing about THIS deployment,” Pam noted, “was that I had to deal with my emotions and pain of losing my dad to cancer without Jay by my side.”

Jay was allowed to come home on emergency leave for two weeks for his father-in-law’s funeral, but when he had to go back to Afghanistan, Pam said her emotions hit their peak.

“I think the shock of my dad being gone and Jay gone again was so unbearable,” she recalled. “I needed him. Jay was truly my soulmate and my rock to lean on besides God. . .but God saw me through, and friends and family helped me, too!”

One of her comforts was her daughter, then a freshman at South Stokes High School. “Katelyn helped me so much in keeping my spirits up,” Pam declared. “She showed me what a remarkable young woman she truly is!”

Pam said that although Katelyn–a daddy’s girl–had missed her dad and longed for him to be there for her, she was very proud of him and remained a trooper and big supporter for both parents.  

Pam and Katelyn were all smiles when Jay got off the plane in Greensboro that 2012 Veterans Day weekend. By their side was Nathan whose unit had worked with him to allow him to come home to greet his dad.

Pam was relieved to have Nathan there: “It’s one thing having to worry about your husband, and then it makes it tougher to worry about a son, too! I am proud of my husband and son, but I have to say I pray a lot that my son never experiences having to go overseas or any war. I worry a lot about that.”

But Pam put those worries out of her mind that weekend when her family was finally reunited. They spent Veterans Day together in a church service that was dedicated to veterans and included a testimony of thanks from Jay and a special outdoor flag presentation by the South Stokes High School JROTC. They hung and flew the US flag that Jay had flown over Afghanistan in honor of Germanton Baptist Church for their support of him and his troops.

Home at last!

When he got home, Jay said that he planned to transition back with his family, spending quality time with them while getting back into the routine at his job.

Pam remembers being overjoyed to settle back into life with him. “There were so many things about my husband that made me so proud of him,” she declared. “Jay was dedicated and loved God, family and country. He truly stood for what he believed in.”

RIP, Jay Kitts–you are missed every day by those who so loved you. But they will be with you eternally one day!

A Wake-Up Call

This past summer as September 11 drew near, I abruptly became besieged by the number “14.” Yes, I meant to use that very word “besieged.” I couldn’t quit thinking about it. “Fourteen,” I would murmur, “what is it about the number fourteen?” I told the hubster how obsessed I suddenly was with that number.

And the feeling of obsession was eerily familiar. It reminded me of how I was obsessed with “9/11” for 5 days before the terrorists struck our country on September 11, 2001. I even wrote a blog about it in 2012, recalling how I felt God had shown me that 9/11 was coming as early as 9/6 of that same year. You can read that fascinating account at:

Remembering 9-11 and knowing that a 10-18 is coming

Now here I was obsessed by another number–14. And again, we were nearing 9/11. What could it mean?

In early September 2015 during my obsession with “14,” I was going through an obscure bottom drawer, looking for some paperwork from years ago. I stumbled upon a gold mailing envelope that read “Spiritual Stuff.” Upon opening it, I found an old dream typed on a piece of paper back in late 2002. Fascinated, I began to read it and was flabbergasted to see that the only number in the dream–repeated twice–was the number 14.

This was no coincidence. I had found the record of the dream at just the right point. Let’s go back in time to see how it originally transpired…..

On Christmas Day 2002, a dear friend of mine contacted me that she had had a dream she considered from God. She was a person who didn’t often have spiritual dreams, although she was (is) a very spiritual person. So when she said this one was meaningful, I took it to heart. She felt she should tell me this dream for some reason; in fact, she felt it so strongly that she typed it up for me. I filed it away for safekeeping. Here is the dream exactly as she typed it, with a name left out for privacy purposes:

“Leslie and I were staying together in a large hotel. I remember us going up to our room together–we were on the 14th floor in room #14. As we looked out the window of our room, there was a large storm brewing over the water. It appeared to be something small enough to see, such as a tornado, but it gave the excessive rain and storms usually associated with hurricanes.

“As we watched it, we decided to go downstairs to a lower level, thinking we’d be safer, but others in the hotel kept telling us to stay where we were. They continued to repeat, ‘Stay up here. You’ll be safer the higher you are. Don’t go down onto the lower levels.’ Although it seemed against all reason, we decided to stay on the 14th floor.

“The storm passed, and everything seemed to brighten up again, so we decided to go out onto a large deck at the rear of the hotel. It was on our floor. As I began to walk out onto it, I noticed that the deck itself had come loose from the building. It didn’t seem in imminent danger of collapsing, so I went out there anyway.

“Throughout the dream, I have a recollection of seeing other church people, although I can’t remember any specifically, other than **name omitted for privacy purposes** sitting out on the deck when I was out there. There were only a few people sitting out there, but they were all sitting in chaise lounges, relaxing and having something to drink.

“About the time I got out there, I looked over the water and saw that the storm had reversed direction and was headed right back toward us. Nobody else there acted as though they could see it. I felt the Lord was telling me to get off of there as quickly as possible. I began to yell at everyone to come back inside. Everyone else got back inside, and as soon as I got both of my feet back into the hotel, that deck collapsed.”

(DISCLAIMER: I asked my friend last month if I could have permission to share her dream, with names omitted. She said yes, of course. She also said this: “I’ve literally read the entire books of Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation, Zechariah, Obadiah, Joel, Amos, and parts of Isaiah and Jeremiah in the last week. Let’s just say I’ve read a lot about judgment, and had some keen realizations lately that people are not watching, and it’s happening right under their nose.”)

You can imagine my amazement when I found this old dream with the 14’s in it. In the following days, I continued to seek God and ponder the significance of the number.

And suddenly, clarity came.

In a few days, we would be commemorating the 14th anniversary of 9/11. FOURTEEN.

And something I had been teaching on–the very meaningful Biblical Shemitah year–was about to end on Sept. 13–at which point the new Jewish civil year would begin–on September 14. FOURTEEN. This is a huge day for me every year…..the first day of the holy 7th month on God’s calendar…..the Jewish New Year…..the day we celebrate the Feast of the Lord, Rosh Hashanah–also called the Feast of Trumpets–which symbolizes the Lord’s return to earth. Each year it is on a different day of either September or October, since God’s calendar is a lunar one, and thus, fluid. This year, it “just happened” to come on the 14th.

Two days I was anxiously awaiting were part of the “14” puzzle–the 14th anniversary of 9/11 and September 14th–Feast of Trumpets. And I didn’t realize it until AFTER the obsession with “14” had hit.

I knew then what the “14” in my friend’s dream meant:

–We stayed on the 14th floor which represented the 14th anniversary of 9/11.

–We stayed in Room 14 which represented September 14.

–A floor of a hotel is a bigger entity than a mere hotel room–just as a 14th YEAR is a bigger entity than a 14th DAY of a month. There is a room 14 on every floor–just as there is a 14th day in every month. But there is only one 14th floor–just as there is only ONE 14th-year anniversary. (Hope that logic makes sense as to why the floor corresponds to a year and the room corresponds to a day of the month.)

Why were these 14‘s important? Because the Christian world (and much of the secular world!) had been waiting for this year’s anniversary of 9/11 AND for the start of the Jewish New Year. Why? Because there had been so much teaching and warning about something big happening this September. Why? Because it was the end of the Biblical Shemitah year which only comes every 7th year and resulted in the biggest stock market crashes in history in 2001 and 2008…..at the end of Shemitah year…..both on the 29th day of the 6th Jewish month of Elul–the final day of the Shemitah year.

This year, the 29th day of Elul–the final day of this once-every-7-years Shemitah year–would fall on September 13. Since it was a Sunday and the U.S. stock market would be closed, many folks were waiting with bated breath to see what happened on the next day–Monday, September 14th. It seemed even eerier since this year the anniversary of 9/11 AND the end of the Shemitah year were the same weekend. That didn’t happen in 2008–the last time we had a Shemitah year. In that year, the end of the Shemitah year occurred a few weeks after 9/11, again due to the Jewish calendar being based on the moon and therefore fluid.

Indeed things did seem to be building toward something catastrophic as the stock market experienced some dark days in the days/weeks before the end of the Shemitah year. Even many stock market analysts with no Christian ties were predicting dark days ahead financially.

But nothing catastrophic happened…..just as in the dream, when the storm was approaching the hotel where we were in the 14th room on the 14th floor…..and then suddenly turned back out to sea. A dangerous storm that seemed destined to strike the hotel didn’t actually strike at all!

Then all is well, right? NO. Notice that the deck at the rear of the 14th floor was loose–not securely attached to the main structure…..perhaps in danger of collapsing.

I began thinking of that one person my friend remembered seeing on the deck (although there were others). Nothing was coming to me about why it was that particular person–very frustrating. Shortly after the 14th anniversary of 9/11 and the September 14th Jewish New Year came and went without great fanfare (just as the expected storm did no damage at that time), I suddenly realized that the person on the deck had a first name that was the same as a unit of U.S. money. That seemed very significant to me with regard to our financial system.

Then it hit me to Google the meaning of this person’s last name. Imagine my surprise when I found that this person’s surname meant “someone at a high place, in a raised-up area.” And this was the person sitting high and raised up on the 14th floor deck! It all seemed to fit. Symbolically, our financial system was still in an exalted position on that deck–just as the person with the monetary unit name was sitting comfortably up there where folks were relaxing in chaise lounges and sipping drinks.

But that deck was loose and not sturdy or trustworthy…..perhaps like our financial system here in the U.S.

The very next morning after I felt God had revealed to me the significance of that person’s name on the deck, I opened my Bible to read my daily chapter. At that time in September 2015, I was already in the Book of Revelation. And the morning after I got revelation on the person’s name, the very chapter in Revelation that I was scheduled to read mentioned the actual name of the person on the deck–the monetary unit…..in connection to a global financial failure!

Color me astonished at the timing!

What happens next in the dream? The storm that everyone had earlier expected reversed course and began heading back to the hotel. This time, no one was looking for it and couldn’t seem to see its approach. In other words, they were fooled. So when it struck, the faulty deck collapsed…..the deck that had been coming loose for a time, but which still seemed to be able to support those relaxed people, FELL catastrophically.

Do I think something is coming to our country that will cripple us and perhaps surprise us by its arrival? Yes. As for me, I’m coming in off the loose deck where we are so wrapped up in our own leisure and personal fulfillment, and I’m getting into a place where there is a firm foundation.

II Timothy 3:1-4 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,ungrateful, unholy,  without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”

LOVERS OF PLEASURE RATHER THAN LOVERS OF GOD.

We need to have our feet on a firm foundation rather than on a pleasure-seeking, loose deck suspended above 14 stories. That firm foundation is a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. “Oh, I believe in God,” people say. Yes, the Bible says the demons believe in one God, too, and TREMBLE. Our belief does nothing for us if we keep living for ourselves and not in close relationship with Jesus. Just believing in God will not get us into Heaven.

I urge you to enter into a true relationship with Him. The time is now. “Make haste; don’t delay” was a word of prophecy given to our church group a few weeks ago.

I have kept the revelation of this “14” dream to myself for 2 months. Yes, I am ashamed to admit I don’t like to be mocked or made fun of for claiming revelation from God or predicting something. But I’ve finally passed the point of caring what people think of me. What does God think? THAT is what matters.

I should’ve learned my lesson last spring with an experience I had. On Monday, April 20, 2015, a solemnity fell upon me suddenly–the sense that something catastrophic was about to happen somewhere in the world and that I needed to intercede. I have witnesses of this, since I testified of this prayer burden on Wednesday, April 22, at our weekly Bible study at The Well. That very night in a vivid dream, I saw a catastrophic avalanche on Mount Everest–so disturbed me that I told my hubster about it the next morning. But I didn’t tell anybody else.

Three days later on April 25, the devastating earthquake struck Nepal, and Mount Everest suffered the worst avalanche in its known history–22 people killed by the deluge of falling snow. I had seen it before it happened, but who would’ve believed me had I told it? Was I supposed to alert the Nepali government–some unknown gal from Walnut Cove, North Carolina, telling them an avalanche was coming? I can’t see that I had an outlet to share this, but maybe I’m wrong.

This past week was my bimonthly week to write my original newspaper column–“The Old Paths”–for The Stokes News. On Monday, November 9, as I wrote it, I mentioned the word “hankering” which, Google informed me, had Flemish roots. “Flemish?” I thought. “What is that?” Google once again provided help: Flemish means it came from Flanders, a region in Belgium.

Hmmm…..I was suddenly reminded that I had once dreamed of Belgium…..years ago…..maybe in about 2005? (I mean, who dreams of Belgium? Really!) In that dream, I was in Paris, France, when the city had been struck by absolute panic. There was pandemonium all around, and the government there closed the borders. I was in the heart of the city with a man with longish, curly hair; I wore his ring. (At the time of the dream, I had never even met the hubster–a man with longish, curly hair–whose ring I now wear.)

All I knew was I needed to escape the terror in Paris. I began to make my way north toward the Belgian border–to try to sneak across there. Soon I was in a barren area that looked like a wasteland. I even saw barbed wire borders and began to wonder if I was safe in this desolate area. (Tonight, when I Googled the border of France and Belgium, I found a region called “Zone Rouge”–the red zone–an area left so devastated by World War I that it is technically a wasteland even today. I found a picture of it that looks almost exactly like the area in my dream. There, 99% of animals and plants perish.)

What are the chances I would suddenly write a column about a word from Belgium that reminds me of a long-forgotten dream about such terror/panic in Paris that the borders of France are closed–just 5 days before terror actually hits Paris and the French borders are closed?

I have been beating myself up all night tonight as I watch the tragedy unfold in Paris. I feel that if I had been in consecrated prayer as I should’ve been this week, God would’ve given me warning about this. Instead, my 3 kids here at home were all hit with a bad respiratory bug which resulted in my body fighting it off with aches and pains. Instead, my plate was overly full of things that had to be done (or so I thought). Instead, I did not steal away to my prayer closet the way I normally do.

Prayer is key right now. Through His Spirit, our God WILL reveal things to come. Why? That those of us on the wall–the watchmen (you and me, if you know Him)–will know to sound the trumpet, to send the warning, to cry out for God’s people to prepare their hearts and to be more dedicated than ever to bring in the harvest of souls before it is too late.

I have people asking me what else I have seen in dreams that seems to be a portent. There are many things, but I will tell you this one: I saw what I thought was a football game going on. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a bloody battle of competition on a field of play–seemed much more serious than a simple game of football. What they were tossing about on the field seemed to be not a football but rather a weapon of mass destruction. (Perhaps football is a time factor? I don’t know.) Suddenly a cloud of smoke went up over a major city in the U.S. (My first thought was NYC, but it has not been confirmed to me.) The cloud was similar to a mushroom cloud but perhaps not as big. I remember that one of my older daughters was out of town at the time this happened, and I was desperate to hear if she was okay. After the attack, I saw people of a Middle Eastern nationality (no, I’m not racial profiling here–I’m just telling you what I saw…..and it IS key that ISIS is such a threat right now) riding through our streets in the U.S., with guns and terror. Even our very homes were not safe. Just as I, too, began to panic–just like the people all around me–I suddenly felt the Holy Ghost surround my very body just like a shield or a suit of armor. I knew then that the power of God was the ONLY thing that would protect us in the day of terror–not manmade weapons, but SPIRITUAL armor/weaponry.

THAT is what I would say to you: get yourself spiritually armed and ready; be clothed in the Spirit of God which is the ONLY thing that will bring you peace, love, joy, patience and every other good quality that will be needed as these last-day birth-pangs hit this earth. I don’t believe in spouting off doomsday warnings all the time or using scare tactics. Those of you who know me can attest that I preach the Gospel–the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ–and that I teach optimism and positivity. Some say I even wear “rose-colored glasses.”

But when He gives me something like what I have shared with you tonight, I cannot keep it to myself any longer. So take heart and listen to the words of our Savior:

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Luke 21:28 “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Psalm 91:9-11 “If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways”

He’s got this, Church! And He’s got us right in the palm of His hand and in the shelter of His wing!